Our soaps need to grow up:Virasat

Our soaps need to grow up

With American soaps like Desperate Housewives and Sex And The City for competition, Viraasat decides to grab eyeballs by taking a closer look at love-making

Subhash K Jha

Star Plus' Viraasat seems to have opened the floodgates in the world of television in terms of bold love-making scenes between the lead actors, Sangeeta Ghosh and Rohit Roy in the forthcoming episodes.

The serial has these two actors playing the Indian Romeo and Juliet. "We have some rather bold love-making scenes, the kind never seen in any soap," says Rohit. "There is no nudity but it is bold by our soap's standards. Come on, our soaps need to grow up! We're competing with the likes of Desperate Housewives and Sex And The City. I think the relationship between couples should be shown more explicitly in our soaps."

The fact that Rohit always found Sangeeta 'hot on screen' helped strike the right chemistry. "We hit it off from the first day. After working in Viraasat, I have started to find Sangeeta not only hot, but also a warm person," he says.

Will Viraasat be a harbinger of a new bold phase in Indian soaps? "I hope so," says Rohit. "I don't mind doing love-making scenes as long as they're done aesthetically like in Viraasat. I wouldn't do anything that I'd be ashamed of. I have a little daughter at home and I will be answerable to her one day."

What does wife Manasi Joshi have to say? "The first thing I do when I go home is to reveal all the details of the day which include the love-making scene with Sangeeta too. Fortunately, Manasi's an actor too and she knows what needs to be done, has to be done," he says.

Also, the presence of several big names from television resulted in ego clashes on the sets. Rohit Roy is quick to dismiss this theory. "I know that TV actors are known to have clashes. But believe me the working environment was healthy," he says. "I can't say that we are one big family, a feeling I experienced during my first soap Swabhimaan ten years ago. But yes, we all get along fine. I had a good rapport with Aman Verma who plays my elder brother. I have a soft corner for Kiron Kumar as he played my first dad on screen," he says.


• We have some rather bold love-making scenes, the kind never seen in any soap
—Rohit Roy